Attempting to fight Yuuki
by Lightblade50
Summary: .


A shockwave exploded through the air as a ruby-colored blur comes plummeting to the ground. His health had fallen close to half for the first time in the battle, but he wasn't finished. He extended his wings again, and got his sword ready to strike. As he pulled back, a scarlet aura engulfed his blade. Although, before he was able to unleash his move, a purple-colored blur flashed downwards, canceling his attack and damaging him. The ruby-colored figure flinched and the purple-colored figure took the newly opened opportunity and slashed sideways, forcing the ruby-colored player's health bar to zero, ending the duel. A respawn flame wicked where the ruby-colored player was defeated. "Woah." Alex said to my right. Everyone nodded in response. I watched as the ruby-colored player's friends made their way up to the flame to revive him. After a few minutes, the ruby-colored player returned. He flew down towards his recent opponent and gave her a smile. The two then shook hands respectfully and he flew back with his group, all of them patting him on his back. "That's 59 wins in a row!" "Is she ever going to lose?" "Watch this, I can beat her." "Dude, no way! You lost in the 1st round of the tournament!" Murmurs arose from the crowd who surrounded around a light, emerald colored tree on the 24th floor. The purple-colored player sheathed her sword, and looked around at the other players. "Is there anyone else who wants to fight?" She asks the crowd. Looking around the crowd, I notice a lot of the other players are quite nervous. "Hey, Hyune. You should give it a shot." A voice says from farther to my right. "W-what? No, I'm not good at all. Especially not good enough to face her." I stumble my words. "Oh come on, you've improved a lot recently and you've been standing here every day watching her duel the other players. I'm sure you'll do fine!" Justin responds. "I-I don't know. I don't want to end up losing badly and wasting her time. I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of other players who would perform a lot better than me. I just don't want t-"  
"Ha, you'll be fine! Just give it a sho-" Excalibur spoke for me from my left and patted me on the back a few times... a little harder than I expected. I end up being pushed forward, almost falling onto the ground. I was able to recover in time, but realizing where I was, my breath caught in my throat. I slowly aim my head up from the grass and my eyes meet the scarlet eyes of the person who I've been watching fight for the past few days. "Oh! Hey there! Would you like to fight?" The person in front of me inquires with a smile. I quickly glance back and glare at Excalibur, who's scratching the back of his head and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." towards me. I look forward and take a deep breath. You know what, why not? I stand up straight and look towards the scarlet-eyes of my soon to be opponent. I nod my head swiftly up and down. "Ok!" The purple-haired person responds. We begin walking towards our ends of the battlefield, and I turn around to face my friends while making my way there. They all have a smile on their face wishing me good luck. Hm, for some reason, there's a bit of confusion in their smiles. Either way, I smile back with the biggest grin I can make and nervously hold 2 thumbs up. We take our positions on opposite ends of the field and face each other. A name appears next to my opponent. "Yuuki" It reads. "So, would you like to fight on land or in the air?" Yuuki asks from her end of the field. "Land, please." I respond, a bit nervously. "Ok!" Yuuki says while navigating her menus. "You can jump but no using your wings, ok?" I nod in response and immediately hear a shining sound, indicating a duel-request. Reading it over, I realized that "Full-finish mode" was selected. That meant that the duel would be over once one of us resigned... or one of our health bars reached zero. I nervously looked towards my friends again, questioning if I should really continue with the duel. They all return looks of trusting encouragement. I smile towards them and touch "accept." The countdown timer appears and we both reach for our swords. ...wait. WAIT WHERE'S MY SWORD!? I frantically wave my hand behind my back, hoping that it'll appear if I try hard enough... wait. I dropped it off at the blacksmith's to get repaired... The pink-haired blacksmith that worked there told me to come by to pick it up later. The blood drained from my face. The countdown timer was at 1...

Yuuki charged towards me with her sword pulled behind her, "WAIT. WAIT. I DON'T HAVE MY SWORD!" I frantically scream, Yuuki's eyes suddenly switch to a surprised expression and she skids to a halt in front of me. "Wait, what?" Yuuki asks, surprised. "...I dropped it off to be repaired earlier today so I don't have it on me right now." I quietly respond. I glance towards my friends to see half of them facepalming, aaaaannnnnddddd the other half with their mouths open in shock. The crowd slowly starts to boo. Ugh. There goes me not wanting to be a bother. With hesitation, I face Yuuki. Surprisingly, a smile is on her face. "Ha, it's fine. While I can't compliment being careless, everyone makes mistakes. I understand. So, would you like to forfeit then?" Yuuki comforts and asks me. My face freezes. Yet, after just a few moments, a smile appears. I nod my head from side to side and open my menu. I don't have any other swords at the moment, since I'm a recently converted player but I do have a shield... Alright, let's see what I can do with this. I press the shield and it appears on my wrist. I look towards Yuuki...who freezes her glance at the diamond-shaped shield. "o...k. HA! I like the way you think! Alright, let's do this then!" Yuuki enthusiastically says as she does a slight jump and makes her way back to her starting place. This is when I realize... the crowd is absolutely silent. I take a quick look around and see all the eyes focusing on me. Suddenly a feeling of dread comes over me. I nervously glance around, even my friends look nervous but try their best to encourage me with a smile. A darkness surrounds me. What if... What if I'm just dragging this on... What if I'm just wasting everyone's time? What i- "HEY! TRY NOT TO FOCUS ON WHAT COULD GO WRONG! YOU'VE ALREADY SHOWN ME YOUR STRENGTH, SO NOW FIND THE COURAGE TO SHOW EVERYONE WHAT YOU CAN DO!" Yuuki's voice rings through the air. My eyes dart towards her and she stands with her sword at her side and a confident smile on her face. She's right... I'm not going to end up wasting everyone's time. This is a fight between me and Yuuki. If everyone else wants to watch fine. Either way, I'm going to give this everything I've got! I crouch down and hold the shield in front of me and pull my other hand to my side. Yuuki has her sword lifted next to her ear. Now this time, I give her a confident smile. She returns it and we charge towards each other.

The sound of metal scraping against metal reverberates into the air. I quickly retract the shield to my side and see a violet sword make contact with the shield. I push the shield below me and duck to the left, dodging a slash from above me then, with all the force I can muster, push the shield forward, launching Yuuki back. The battle pauses for a moment, as if people have to register what just happened. I've watched Yuuki fight a lot of battles. I understand her mindset. She takes every opportunity that she can get. With her superior speed and strength, just the slightest opening could mean victory for her. If I keep one move ahead of her at all times while trying my best to avoid her attacks, I might just win this. I look towards Yuuki and our eyes lock. A slight laugh appears from her. "Alright, I get it. I get it. You better be ready then!" Yuuki warns as she puts her sword next to her ear. This time though, she crouches down and I can sense the immense amount of energy she's about to release. I hold up my shield again. I honestly haven't seen this before. I should try t- suddenly a purple-colored blur zooms towards me. OH GOSH. I internally scream as I duck and hold the shield in front of me. The force from the sword flying over my head flattens the grass around us. I quickly aim my shield above me to block a downwards slash. Great. What do I do now? The moment of hesitation costs me, as a slash hits me from the side, taking half of my hp. I let out a cry of frustration and jump up, somehow managing to land my feet on Yuuki's blade. The force pushes her down as she holds the hilt of her sword at a downward angle. I look down at the sword. That's it! That's how I'- "WOAH!" I scream out as Yuuki reclaims her sword and makes me fall onto my back. I quickly move my shield in front of me to block the downwards slash. Then in that small moment, I decide to play my cards. I push my shield forward and manage to place one foot on the ground behind me. But at that exact moment, the force of Yuuki's sword disappears. I hear a whishing sound to my right and I move the shield to my side and it makes contact with Yuuki's sword. I have to make my move NOW! I push sideways with the shield, causing Yuuki to retract her sword. She immediately goes for another slash, but this time from above. I quickly move my shield above me and block it. No. Not that move. She then pulls her sword back and thrusts forward. THIS ONE! I move my shield to the side of the sword and quickly push to the right. The sword makes contact with the shield and strikes the air to my side. I immediately spin around and place my hand on the hilt of Yuuki's sword. Then I jump up and kick backwards. Yuuki goes flying back and my hand is the only one left on the hilt. I pull the sword from the ground and hold it to my side. I look towards Yuuki, who has a shocked expression on her face. Without her sword, she has no way to use her momentum against me. I've won! Another smile appears on Yuuki's face. "Yea! That's what I'm taking about! That was awesome!" Yuuki compliments. I smile back towards her. "Thanks!" I crouch down and prepare to strike the final hits. But when I look up, I'm shocked. Yuuki is running towards me with full force. I quickly slash to her right side with her sword, but... she appears to just faze through it. She grasps the hilt of her sword and kicks my stomach, making me flinch back. The sound of a sword skill activating immediately resonates through the air. I... I can't react to this in time. In the next instant, I can feel the force of a sword hitting my side and I watch my health bar fade to zero. "You are dead."

Warm orange light reenters my field of view and I'm greeted by a figure with dark blue hair and eyes. "Oh! Hey, Julie!" I smile towards the girl in front of me. "Hey! You doing ok?" She responds. I nod my head up and down. "Thanks for reviving me." "Of course!"

"...wait a second. I thought you were out on a quest with your guild." I say to her in confusion. "Well I was, but we finished early and Alex sent a message saying that I should come here."

I look towards Alex and there's a smile on his face. I then quickly glance around... "Wait, where's everyone?" I ask. "Oh, Yuuki said that she was done fighting for the day and the crowd dispersed after that." Alex responds. "Oh."

"Oh, but Yuuki wanted us to say that you fought amazingly! And she apologized for not being able to stick around. She also thanked you for coming out to watch her fight even though you didn't have any intention of actually fighting her." Alex announced. A smile naturally found itself onto my face. I made a new friend! "She also requested a rematch to you when you get your sword back." Justin said. "Oh, right... haha..." I look down in embarrassment. I actually just fought using a shield because I forgot my sword. "Either way though, dude! That was awesome!" Excalibur compliments me. "Yea, that was a great fight. You did well!" Alex adds in. "The practice really payed off." Justin also adds in. "Ha, thank you guys..." I respond with a small smile. "Wait... I missed Hyune dueling!?" Julie exclaims. "Yea... Oh but hey, don't worry! I managed to record it!" Alex responds opening his menu and navigating to his video files. He clicks a video and it opens. "WAIT. WAIT. I DON'T HAVE MY SWORD!" My blood runs cold. "wait what." Julie comments. "Oh wait, I forgot to record after that." Alex says. "Well, that just made me a lot more curious." Julie responds. I breathe out in relief and attempt to explain. "Well I ended up forgetting my sword an-...MY SWORD." I scream out. "I HAVE TO PICK IT UP FROM THE BLACKSMITH. AH, IT'S ALREADY SO LATE." I quickly generate my wings and begin flying towards the teleport gate. "WAIT HYUNE!" A voice yells from behind me. I stop and turn around and see my friends flying towards me. "We're going with you. Plus, you have to explain that fight still." Julie says enthusiastically. I look towards everyone else and they have a smile on their face too. "Ha, ok. Thank you everyone." I respond. "No problem, now let's go get that sword!" Alex says while beginning to fly forward. "Wa-wait! Alex! Now you're the one flying ahead!" I yell after him. "Ha, come on, let's catch up to him." Justin says. We all nod in agreement and fly after Alex. While flying I describe the fight to Julie, who seems to be enjoying how I fought a swordsman with a shield. But, another thing on my mind is the rematch. I'm going to be able to fight Yuuki again and we're both going to be at our best. We're both going to know each other's fighting style, our movements. I can't wait for it, and I'm sure Yuuki is interested in it too...

But the rematch...never occurred.


End file.
